As a big finish in its week-long campaign, Howdy Farm is launching its own fundraising page Friday on a new website, AggieFunding.com.
Members of Howdy Farm have “planted” seeds in the hands of students on campus this week with the hopes of watching them grow and turn into positive, agricultural action on the behalf of students. The 5,500 seeds passed out were part of the Howdy Farm’s campaign “Plant a Seed, Watch it Grow!”- a project to raise awareness of the farm, what it does for the campus and community and where it wants to go with the help of Bryan-College Station.
Jessica Newman, public relations officer for Howdy Farm, said the campaign wanted to get Howdy Farm’s name and purpose out to more people.
“The Howdy Farm just does great things and it goes unnoticed,” Newman said. “We’re very small-scale right now so this is super important for us to expand. Bigger land means a bigger impact and reaching more people.”
Matt Rogers, senior recreation, park and tourism sciences major and founder of the AggieFunding.com, said the website was created to help various student organizations like Howdy Farm in their fundraising efforts, putting them all together on one site.
“[AggieFunding.com] is a kick-starter for the Aggie network – we help students raise money without limits,” Rogers said. “Howdy Farm is one of the most beautiful places on the Texas A&M campus. It is one of the most serene places you can go. It’s like a hidden gem on campus that people need to know about.”
The Howdy Farm’s goal is to raise $45,000 through its page on the Aggie Funding website. The funds will go toward a number of projects the Howdy Farm would like to begin, Newman said, including four gardens and a sustainability building that will begin construction in May. Newman said the sustainability building would host educational workshops, such as a compost class.
Corey Wahl, head field manager for Howdy Farm, said plans for student housing on West Campus forced the farm to relocate in the fall, but the members of Howdy Farm are ready to build the farm up to where it can fully support itself again. Howdy Farm will use area behind the Horticulture Building, Walh said.
The field behind the Horticulture Building will be used to host the planned gardens and sustainability building. The gardens include a zen garden of sand and tropical plants and a flagpole garden, used to support a local brewpub, Blackwater Draw Brew Company.
Wahl said Howdy Farm wants to honor A&M’s background in agriculture in everything it does as well as bring a fresh concept of farming to the campus and surrounding community.